Ctrip Surges in China as Competitive Landscape Getting Less Bumpy

Ctrip is beating analysts’ expectations with a strategy that includes offering consumer discounts and collaborating with competitors.

— Greg Oates

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Ctrip.com International Ltd. rallied to a record as the Chinese online travel services provider exceeded analysts’ third-quarter earnings estimates and said it expects to post revenue growth of as much as 50 percent for the final three months of this year.

The American depositary receipts surged 19 percent to $112.88 at 1:37 p.m. in New York. Trading volume of 8.9 million shares was almost triple the full-day average of the past three months. The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index advanced 2.4 percent.

Ctrip’s ADRs jumped after the company posted third-quarter adjusted net income of $401 million, driven mainly by a $377 million gain from the “deconsolidation of Tujia.com International Co.,” a home-sharing service similar to Airbnb Inc.’s, according to the company’s earnings statement. The forecast for annual revenue growth of 45 percent to 50 percent compares with an average estimate of 42 percent among 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Amid increasing competition and a pricing war that was eating into profit margins, Ctrip has worked to improve market share by offering consumers discounts on its products and collaborating up with competitors. Ctrip has joined in a Baidu-backed share-swap deal with rival Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd, giving the two companies an estimated 80 percent of the Chinese hotel and air ticket markets. Earlier this year, the company also purchased a majority stake in Elong Inc, an online trip- booking service.

Alibaba, Baidu

“The profits that the company reported were better than what people expected because those operating margins started to inflect again to the positive,” Jeff Papp, senior analyst at Oberweiss Asset Management Inc, which oversees about $1.9 billion, said by phone on Thursday. “With the collaboration with Elong, and with the deal with Qunar, I think the competitive landscape has dramatically improved.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Taylor Hall in New York at thall88@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nikolaj Gammeltoft at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net Richard Richtmyer

This article was written by Taylor Hall from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.